My Dragon King System-Chapter 257: War In Eden Pt. 3: Bearer Of The Closing Hour

Chapter 257: War In Eden Pt. 3: Bearer Of The Closing Hour

Jorus raised his forked staff as Aiden closed the distance between them, preparing to parry the incoming strike.

But just as he began moving his weapon into position, Aiden whispered a single word:

"Stop."

Time froze instantly around Jorus, and his body locked mid-motion, with his staff still raised defensively but unable to complete its trajectory.

Excalibur flashed through the air in one clean arc and slashed across Jorus’s torso in a single blur of light.

Blood erupted from the wound as the blade cut deep into his flesh.

The Time Stop skill at Aiden’s current level only managed to freeze an Archon-level opponent for a few seconds, especially one who had entered their full-powered god form.

However, it had been enough to cause a considerable delay for Aiden to land a clean hit.

The wound across Jorus’s chest was deep and vicious, but already it began healing.

Flesh started stitching itself back together almost instantly as his regenerative abilities kicked in.

Aiden couldn’t let that happen. He moved back in immediately for another attack, slashing again from a different angle.

Then again.

And again.

He repeated the strikes several times, each time stopping time at the last possible moment before Jorus could react or defend himself, cutting into him from multiple directions with Excalibur.

But then, Jorus held regardless.

Even cuts to the neck that Aiden had hoped would take Jorus’s head clean off were instead left as deeply gashed wounds that had already started stitching themselves back together within seconds.

The regeneration was too fast.

Aiden was just about to take another swing at Jorus when suddenly the god raised his head sharply.

His eyes glowed with an intense red light as he stared directly at Aiden with a sudden gaze.

Aiden’s eyes widened immediately as something inside him seized up violently.

He clutched his chest with his left hand, gasping as blood spilled from the corner of his lips.

His entire body felt like it was being crushed from within, and his heart was struggling to beat properly under some invisible pressure.

Jorus, still covered in several cuts that were rapidly healing, blitzed forward instantly and closed the distance between them.

He swung his forked staff downward with devastating force and struck Aiden’s head.

That impact sent Aiden hurtling downward from the sky like a meteor.

He crashed into the ground below , creating a massive crater that spread outward for dozens of meters in every direction.

Dust and debris exploded upward in a thick cloud that momentarily obscured everything around him.

Jorus didn’t immediately follow up with another attack. Instead, he hovered in place mid-air as his body continued recuperating, and his skin sealing up wounds.

The attack Jorus had used on Aiden was called Death Gaze.

A peculiar divine ability meant to force anyone below his level as an Archon to die outright.

High Gods would die within one hour after being subjected to Jorus’s Death Gaze. Lesser gods would die within minutes.

And while fellow Archons might not die from it, they would suffer considerable internal damage.

But worse still, was what came after: that forked staff Jorus had struck Aiden with had been imbued with the Curse of Death itself.

One so potent that even High Gods would eventually succumb to it after being struck by that weapon.

Jorus’s domain of divine abilities revolved entirely around death-inducing effects or causing death directly, which was why he was also known among the pantheon as "Bearer of the Closing Hour."

Thera’s attention diverted for just a second as she turned her head downward and watched Aiden fall from the sky.

"Dragon Vessel?" she muttered with genuine worry crossing her face for just a moment.

And in that moment when she got distracted, she got hit by a concentrated blast fired from one of Myria’s floating mirrors.

The impact forced Thera backward through mid-air, sending her away a few meters before she managed to stabilize herself again.

"Are you averting your gaze away from me, Thera?!" Myria called out mockingly as more mirrors began forming around her in mid-air ready to fire again at any moment.

Thera was breathing hard now, with smoke vapor rising visibly from her body.

"Tch... that armor," Myria muttered in annoyance as she observed Thera pretty much unscathed from taking her attack.

The full black armor adorning Thera’s entire form, from head to toe, had protected her from taking any real damage from that blast.

That black armor was Thera’s Divine Weapon, and it was widely regarded throughout all of Eden as being The sturdiest defensive artifact ever created by their kind!

It had earned Thera herself another title among their pantheon: "Ultimate Defense."

Myria made another gesture then, this time causing several floating mirrors around herself to come together rapidly until they formed one singular massive reflective surface!

The combined mirror released an even more humongous concentrated blast aimed directly at Thera!

Thera brought both forearms together side-by-side defensively.

But instead of relying solely on blocking herself, the large boulders that had been floating protectively around her suddenly expanded dramatically into even larger masses of solid stone!

They came together instantly in front of Thera like an enormous wall of earth meant specifically for blocking incoming attacks!

Her earthen wall held firm initially, but then something changed.

A large mirror materialized directly above Thera without warning. From it, another concentrated blast was released, driving straight down toward her position.

The attack struck through before she could react, and the force sent Thera crashing downward, until she slammed into solid ground below with enough force to create her massive crater right beside where Aiden had fallen.

Not long after, both Aiden and Thera rose from their respective craters.

Dust and debris fell away from their forms as they pushed themselves upright, assessing the damage they’d taken.

Thera had a few bruises visible on her face now, and her black armor had gained several scratches across its surface. But despite the damage, she was still very much gallant in appearance.

Her amber eyes burned with determination as she glanced toward Aiden, then up at their opponents hovering above.

Aiden, on the other hand, was in worse shape.

Blood still stained the corner of his mouth from Jorus’s Death Gaze, and the impact from that cursed staff had left a deep ache.

But he wasn’t finished yet. Not even close.

He cwas using both his Time and Destruction Authorities simultaneously to reverse the effects of Jorus’s attacks on his body.

There was no guarantee that his current level of power would allow him to use his Time Rewind skill to take back time in such a way that it would affect Jorus and Myria as well, and revert this entire area and situation back to before their attacks had ever happened.

That level of temporal manipulation was beyond what he could reliably control right now, especially against opponents at Archon-level strength, who could resist or counter such effects.

So instead, he used Rewind in a more focused manner, returning his own body’s condition back to its most premium state, healing the internal damage caused by the Death Gaze and restoring his strength.

At the same time, he continually channeled his Zero Effect skill, targeting whatever Curse of Death had been inflicted on his body by that forked staff.

He felt it working slowly, and weakening as Zero Effect stripped away its potency bit by bit until it no longer posed a threat to him.

This much, at least, he could control.

Jorus hovered above them both, still recovering from his own wounds as his regeneration finished sealing up the last few cuts Excalibur had left on his flesh.

But he hadn’t noticed yet that the effects of his attacks were being systematically undone by the dragon below him.

He laughed at him mockingly.

"Your end is already at hand, Dragon Vessel!" Jorus called down with satisfaction.

"Did you truly believe that sword would kill me?" Jorus continued, gesturing dismissively toward Excalibur still gripped tightly in Aiden’s hand.

"You kept slashing at areas that could have dealt finishing blows, and yet here I stand!"

He paused for effect before continuing:

"Of course, I’ll admit... Umgadi’s Blessing of the Weight of Stars is rather effective when it comes to the sword’s raw strength. That much I felt with every strike."

Jorus tilted his head, with his mocking grin widening further.

"But come now, Dragon Vessel," he said slowly, almost condescendingly, "Who do you think granted that blade its Blessing of Death in the first place?"

"How did you ever think, that my own blessing would somehow come to work against me?"

His laughter rang out again as he spread his arms wide as if presenting himself as living proof of his own superiority.

"That blade may carry blessings from multiple gods," Jorus said, his tone very much arrogant now. "But death itself bows to me! I am its master! Its herald! It’s very embodiment!"